September 2012 16

“Military service men and women never have to fill out a resume, never have to explain what they do, never have to search or apply for a job, never have to prepare for an interview,” said Lisa Rosser during her recent presentation at the 2012 Fall ERE Expo. Rosser was explaining why military candidates have such a hard time communicating exactly how their military skills and experience transfer to the civilian workforce: for many of them, the job search process as most of us know it is uncharted territory.

How can you use military intelligence to write better job descriptions — and more successfully recruit veterans seeking a civilian job at your company?

While at SHRM 2012, I had the chance to sit in on a session led by veteran recruiting expert Lisa Rosser, a recently retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, called “Marketing to Attract the Military Applicant.” With 22 years of active/reserve military service under her belt, as well as a Masters in Human Resource Management and a former career as an HR business consultant for a global Fortune 500 consulting firm, Rosser has a lot of firsthand knowledge about veterans and the challenges they face.

When you think about industries that have seen extreme growth over the last two years, manufacturing probably isn’t an area that comes to mind. But, using CareerBuilder’s Supply and Demand Portal data, we see that job growth in manufacturing has increased 89 percent from September, 2010 to August, 2012 – an increase from 89,973 jobs to 169,611 jobs.

The five most difficult jobs to fill, based on supply over demand, are:

Have you ever received an application and thought to yourself, “Right candidate, wrong position” – whether it was because the applicant was missing just one crucial skill set, you’d just filled the position or due to some other outlying circumstances.

Or perhaps you’ve met someone at a job fair, conference or networking event who made you think, “This person would be a great fit at my company.

“Times have changed. In the past, fun was looked at as frivolous from the employer level,” says Michael Civello, Director of Client Relations for Plum Benefits, which provides companies with entertainment focused services for their employees.

Today, however, fun is increasingly seen as not just acceptable, but essential to building relationships within the workplace, which Civello says is crucial to increasing morale and decreasing turnover.

First, you should definitely sign up for a free product demo at CareerBuilder booth 837,where you can check out some of the cool product updates the CareerBuilder has made – all to make life easier for the HR community.